Jain Journal 2003 10

Author(s): Jain Bhawan Publication
Publisher: Jain Bhawan Publication

Page 34

94
JAIN JOURNAL : VOL-XXXVIII, NO. 2 OCT. 2003
two basic qualities of these people would be non-acceptance and nonaccumulation namely aparigraha and the second would be to be absolutely non-attached to the chair which they are holding at present. For this, the honourable path of celibacy or brahmacarya should be observed by them. Hence, the two famous doctrines are seen absolutely reflected in Plato's Republic. The later philosophers had inclined towards social philosophy and those same doctrines were being explained differently as per sectarian differences. The papacy and clergymen belonging to the Church hailed them to prove and expand their effect and Karl Marx directed them towards the freedom of the have nots. As Jean Jacques Rousseau exclaimed about the inherent concept of liberty in man when he had said that -- “Man is born free, but everywhere he is seen in shackles.” By uttering these, Rousseau has reverberated Lord Mahāvīra's mellifluity and teachings once again.
Mahāvīra during his mellifluous speeches has said that the soul is pure, free and equanimous. Hence it is the freedom personified. But as the layer of the mundane level continues to enshackle humans, they are bonded by the pandemonium of worldly affairs. Although being free in its basic format, the soul becomes entwined with its karma or deeds.
Mahāvīra has also said that the true religion is the basic faculty within a human being. But the living entity or Jīva is responsible for its deeds. These deeds are the bindings for which the soul is unable to be free. While reflecting Mahāvīra's philosophy on facades of modern metaphysics, the global consciousness reverberates through the pros and cons of ethics and ethical formulative functions. Ethics according to Mahāvīra should be based on utilitarian and practical lines. Hence it would not be considered as outdated and prehistoric babble. Its importance would be reflected in this contemporary age.
Every doctrine of Jainism is related with human freedom and dignity. Abraham Lincoln has emphasized on the specificity of democracy, by giving all power in the hands of the common people. He wholeheartedly strived to erase slavery and thereby practically established the fact of oneness among all. Regarding the importance of equality he had once said “I won't like to be a slave of someone nor do I want to become somebody's lord." Lincoln maintained these self-imposed rules and strictly adhered to them all throagh his life.
True religion not only paves the path for the human being towards betterment but the momentum of its speed is given by the